257: Chapter 257 Reunion

After completing this final entrustment, the brilliant phantom Yonghen, which represented the will of this world's Heavenly Dao, flickered out like a burnt-out candle. The phantom slowly dissipated, turning into the most primitive light spots of world rules and returning to the depths of the Origin of this world.

The strange space returned to silence once more.

Only the place where the Evil Nightmare had once been sealed retained a faint, upright, and peaceful aura, subtle as the birth of all things. It told of a silent war that had occurred here, one concerning the survival of the world.

Lin Yin, who was being held back firmly by Lin Feng and the others, crying hoarsely and nearly fainting, suddenly felt a sharp pain in her heart, as if she had lost some most important connection.

She looked up blankly, her eyes blurred with tears, toward the direction where Lin Tian and Yonghen had disappeared. It was empty; there was nothing there.

Only an imperceptible, almost illusory ripple of warmth, like a spring breeze brushing across a lake, gently swept through her heart before vanishing.

Her cries came to an abrupt halt.

All that remained was a hollow, heartbreaking silence and the cold tears sliding down soundlessly.

The sky brightened.

But the sun she loved the most seemed to have gone out along with it.

Lin Yin was brought back by Lin Feng and the others.

To say she was "brought" back was actually more like being half-supported and half-carried.

From the moment Lin Tian was taken away by that light and shadow, she seemed to have had her Soul sucked out. She didn't cry or make a scene; she just stubbornly stared at the empty sky, letting her tears flow silently until they ran dry, leaving only emptiness.

She didn't seem to hear anything Lin Feng and the others said. She was instinctively brought back to Lintian City, to the place most familiar to her but now most heartbreaking—Lin Tian's bedroom.

His scent still lingered in the room—on the pillows, among the bedding, and in the air. It was faint, like grass dried by the sun, or like the reassuring warmth he brought when he occasionally leaned close.

But now, this scent only made her feel cold—cold to the bone.

She sat curled up by the bed, hugging herself tightly with her chin resting on her knees.

The tear tracks on her face had long since dried, leaving behind a few faint, shimmering marks. Her eyes were red and swollen, filled with terrifying bloodshot veins, yet her gaze was empty, staring unfocused at a point in the void.

Her lips parted slightly, letting out an extremely soft, dream-like murmur, repeating only that one line over and over:

“Brother Tian... you must come back... you must come back...”

Her voice was so quiet it was almost inaudible, yet it carried a stubbornness bordering on despair, as if this were her only connection to the world and that slim hope.

Time lost its meaning here.

Outside the window, the color of the sky changed from the dark gold of dusk to deep blue, finally sinking into an ink-black darkness so thick it wouldn't dissipate.

She was like an exquisite jade carving, frozen in this suffocating silence and waiting. Only that faint, broken whispering proved she was still alive.

Just as this deathly, maddening wait was about to exhaust her last bit of Life Qi.

Without any warning, the empty air beside the bed suddenly rippled with a soft, warm, seven-colored light that seemed to encompass all the beautiful colors of the world.

The light wasn't blinding; it was like the gentlest dawn of spring, or the purest rainbow in the sky after rain.

It emerged quietly and then slowly receded, like a ebbing tide.

As the light vanished, Lin Tian's figure appeared abruptly and quietly on his own bed.

His eyes were tightly closed, his face pale from overexertion, and his lips were somewhat cracked. The simple combat uniform he usually wore was tattered and stained with traces that were hard to distinguish as either dirt or dried blood.

He lay there, the rise and fall of his chest so weak it was almost invisible, like... a shell that had lost its Soul.

Lin Yin's hollow eyes snapped into focus the moment Lin Tian's figure appeared.

Like a drowning person finally seeing a floating log, a terrifying light suddenly erupted from the depths of her dead eyes, but that light was filled with fear.

She was afraid it was an illusion, afraid it would shatter at a touch, afraid that if she got closer, she would hear a silence that would make her completely collapse.

Her entire body froze, and she even held her breath.

Her body reacted faster than her consciousness; she almost sprang up, yet just as her fingertips were about to touch his cheek, she pulled back as if struck by an electric shock.

She didn't dare touch him, fearing the warmth was fake, fearing his heartbeat... had already stopped.

They remained in this stalemate for several seconds, a span of time that felt as long as centuries.

Finally, the longing for the possibility that "he was still alive" overwhelmed the fear of the fact that "he might be dead."

As if using all her strength, and as if afraid of disturbing some fragile dream, she leaned down extremely slowly and carefully.

First, she used her trembling fingertips to very, very lightly touch the back of his hand.

It was cold. Her heart sank abruptly.

No... it couldn't be...

She bit her lower lip, almost to the point of drawing blood, and bit by bit, she leaned down, pressing her cheek and ear with utmost gentleness against his chest, which smelled of dust and gunpowder.

The world went quiet.

No, her entire world had shrunk down to that ear pressed against his chest.

She blocked out all sound and all perception, leaving only the faint pulsation that might come from beneath that layer of skin.

Thump...

Thump...

Though it was as weak as a flickering candle in the wind, intermittent and seemingly about to go out at any second, it was a heartbeat!

It was the sound of a heart still struggling to beat!

It wasn't an illusion! He was still alive! He was really still alive!

Before the massive wave of wild joy could rush to her head, the heartbeat changed under her focused listening.

One beat, stronger than the last.

One beat, steadier than the last.

From being as thin as a thread and erratic at the start, it gradually became clear and firm, like a spring gushing forth again from parched land; though the flow was still small, it was filled with an endless stream of vitality.

That rhythm, slow yet powerful like a war drum, beat away all the gloom and despair in her heart.

“Wuu...”

A sob suppressed to the extreme finally broke through her throat.

It wasn't a loud wail, but the kind of sobbing from surviving a disaster and crying for joy, yet carrying an endless lingering fear.

Scalding tears surged out again, but this time, they were no longer from cold despair, but from burning, searing relief.

She didn't get up, remaining in that position leaning against his chest, greedily listening to that increasingly steady and powerful heartbeat as if it were the most wonderful music in the world.

Tears slid down her cheeks and dripped onto his tattered combat uniform, soaking into a small dark patch.

Once her extremely tense spirit relaxed, boundless exhaustion surged in like a tide.

But she didn't dare sleep. She just slowly, slowly sat up straight on the footstool by the bed, her hand still tightly holding Lin Tian's slightly cold hand, as if he would disappear again if she let go.

She just quietly watched his brow, which was still furrowed in his coma, and his face that was familiar to her very core, yet now pale and fragile.

The hollow hole in her heart seemed to be filled bit by bit by this steady heartbeat, becoming burning and soft once more.

Brother Tian, you're back.

You're really back.

No matter where you are, no matter what we have to face, from now on, don't even think about carrying it alone again, and don't even think about leaving me behind.

To the ends of the earth, I will follow you.

This thought took root and sprouted in her heart with absolute clarity and firmness, growing into a towering tree.

Time flowed quietly in this silent companionship and gaze.

The darkness outside the window gradually faded, and the horizon turned the color of a fish's belly. The first ray of faint dawn light crept into the room through the window lattice, gently spilling over the two of them, plating Lin Yin's pale profile with a thin golden edge and illuminating the fine dust on Lin Tian's eyelashes.

Then, those thick, long eyelashes quivered slightly.

And again.

Lin Yin instantly held her breath, her hand holding his involuntarily tightening.

Those tightly closed eyes finally opened with difficulty and slowness.

At first, they were somewhat confused and unfocused, just turning unconsciously, until...

They met that pair of red, moist eyes by the bedside, filled with all the worry, joy, and deep affection in the world.

In the moment their gazes met, time seemed to stand still.